On Friday evening, I was just settling down to an evening with Eric Schmidt's book on the New Digital Age when Jane Evans and old mucker from my Parliamentary days called to ask me at 6.15pm whether I'd like a join her at The National to see The House. She had asked a friend but she was stuck on the M25 and was definitely not going to make it.
So it was that I found myself as part of the audience to the back of the stage for a play I had tried to book myself but it has been such a monster hit that it is sold out for the season. Indeed, The National has never been so popular and has several plays (including The Audience) which have transferred to the West End.
Lucky me.... the play was set in the 1974-79 period though in order to really enjoy it you did need to know quite a lot of the lesser political players - Stonehouse, Prentice, Taylor, Skinner et al. It was really a play about relationship of the respective Whips Offices at Westminster. I quite liked it which is damning praise.
Despite our politicians being at yet another all time low in the public's esteem (UKIP: The Musical is next) there seems to be an extraordinary interest in them - and not just because of the brilliant Danish series: Borgen.
Interestingly, Adam Price, its writer, has teamed up with Michael Dobbs (House of Cards) for yet another BBC political thriller due for screening next year. Meanwhile the third episode of A Politician's Wife (Emily Watson and David Tennant) is on later this week on BBC1.
Boris Johnson was in the fifth row of The House no doubt gathering ideas for his play where a city mayor knife's the Prime Minister.